By Chris Wright
25 years on from Diego Maradona’s flashing scintilla of divine intervention against England at the 1986 World Cup in Mexico, we’ve trawled through the archives and fished out some brilliant photos of the young(ish) ‘Barrilete Cosmico’ in his pomp…
Spanish ref Victoriano Sanchez shows South Korea’s Jung-Moo Huh a yellow card for fouling Maradona during Argentina’s opening group game in Mexico City
Maradona addresses the press after the South Korea game
Maradona fires a shot at Giovanni Galli in the Italian goal before Gaetano Scirea can intervene during Argentina’s second group game
The linesman assists Maradona in making a bit of room for a corner to be taken against Italy
Maradona acknowledges the crowd after opening his account during Argentina’s 1-1 draw with Italy
Maradona lines up before Argentina’s final group game against Bulgaria
Maradona celebrates Argentina’s 2-0 victory over Bulgaria as referee Morera Ulloa blows the final whistle
Serious face: Maradona leaves the pitch after Argentina secured their passage through to the second round
Maradona skins Eliseo Rivero during the second round tie between Argentina and Uruguay
Maradona shakes hands with England captain Peter Shilton before the quarter-final in Mexico City
Terry Fenwick is outwitted by Maradona and sends him sprawling to the turf
Maradona juggles the ball on the touchline as he shields it from Kenny Sansom
Maradona sizes up Terry Butcher and Kenny Sansom
Maradona climbs to nod a sublime header past Peter Shilton to open the scoring for Argentina…
…before setting out on the route to scoring one of the finest goals in World Cup history…
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…bring him down Terry!…
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…
…
Job done
Maradona leaves the field while photographers flock to take his picture
Maradona attempts an audacious long-range shot against Belgium in the semi-finals
Maradona opens the scoring before also bagging himself the other goal in Argentina’s 2-0 victory over the Belgians
Maradona is closed down by West Germany’s Lothar Matthaeus during the 1986 World Cup final at the Estadio Azteca in Mexico City
Maradona ghosts through the West German defence
Not for the first time in his career, West Germany ‘keeper Harald Schumacher sends an opponent crashing to the ground
Maradona celebrates as Argentina are crowned World Champions thanks to Jorge Burruchaga’s 83rd-minute winner
We also fully recommend that you spend ten minutes of your afternoon watching BBC Sport’s ‘Don’t Cry For Me, Maradona’ short, which charts the (fictional) aftermath of that fateful afternoon in 1986 – if only for the pristine archive footage of Terry Fenwick’s absolutely atrocious long-range effort early in the Argentina game!
Photos: PA